Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading 0.6% Higher – Still a Buy?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shares traded up 0.6% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $192.00 and last traded at $190.51. 6,467,392 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 76% from the average session volume of 27,460,176 shares. The stock had previously closed at $189.30.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $210.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 26th. Loop Capital upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $170.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $206.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $206.69.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average price is $179.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $172.28. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market cap of $2.30 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.88, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 10.61%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.23, for a total value of $473,929.82. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 26,349 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,406,343.27. The trade was a 9.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 441 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $171.06, for a total transaction of $75,437.46. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,820,779.40. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 137,588 shares of company stock valued at $24,473,081 over the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth $36,000. Denver PWM LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at $53,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.